How to Say Goodbye

Chapter 7

It was a few weeks before Niall was strong enough to leave the hospital. During that time, Harry avoided me at all costs, never making eye contact with me or uttering a word to me. He grew angry when I entered into conversations, and how could I blame him? I had slapped him in the face in front of a massive crowd of strangers after all!

I never left the hospital. I mean, I had nowhere else to go. My parents brought me clothes every day to change into, but they were still waiting to formerly meet Niall. I wasn’t sure I was ready for them to meet Niall. My parents and I didn’t have the best relationship in the world, so it was difficult to assess what they deserved to know about my life and what they didn’t.

The bruises on his body were awful the day after the accident, but after they initially got worse, they became less...horrific, but still terrible reminders of the accident. His leg was in a huge cast, his torso was wrapped up firmly, and he could hardly walk when I sneaked him out for strolls down the hallway.

He wasn't angry or tired or even too much in pain. He was the exact same Niall who I shared the night with what seemed like forever ago. Throughout our time bonding in the hospital, we discovered more and more about each other, and I found I liked him a lot more than was appropriate after only knowing him three and a half weeks. He always held my hand and kissed me every chance he could, and I wasn’t one to stop him. Often, we’d get interrupted by a nurse or his doctor or a friend, but it didn’t matter because we were together. He let me sleep next to him in his bed and shed a few tears every now and then as I shed more light about my past, and he offered comforting words every so often.

Even through all the wonder of the quality time we spent together, I still felt like the accident was all my fault. But Niall disagreed.

"Sage, you weren't driving that truck. You weren't the one who was being careless while watching his girlfriend turn the other direction," he explained to me one day after he saw a tear.

"Exactly Niall! You were watching ME instead of the road!" I shook my head and sighed in frustration.

He quieted his voice. "Look at what you just said. You said that I did something. I did it Sage. It's not your fault. I don't blame you, and you should stop blaming yourself."

I simply nodded my head, not wanting to prolong the argument. He was wrong.

The day he was released, the rest of the boys were outside in the parking lot surrounded by a few dozen reporters.

Niall tried to walk as fast as he could to the car, but I stopped him and whispered, "We should tell the world eventually, babe."

A smile struck his face, and he nodded his head in agreement, taking my hand as he looked over to the closest reporter.

They were all yelling over each other, asking him countless questions about me and the accident, but he didn't respond to anything until they quieted down.

He looked to me, and I smiled back at him.

With a deep breath, he explained, "This is my girlfriend, Sage Tucker. We have been together for the past three weeks, and yes, we are getting pretty serious. The accident was my fault. I wasn't paying attention and a huge truck hit me. But I'm fine now, and now you know about us." He held up our intertwined hands and kissed me suddenly. I found myself swept up in the moment, so I tangled my hands in his hair. Our lips moved gently against one another's, and when he finally pulled away, he leaned his forehead against mine.

Liam called to us from the car and pulled me back to reality.

Once Niall was comfortably inside, I hesitated outside the car. Harry was sitting in the front seat on the passenger side with his window rolled down. I couldn't tell whether he was giving me dirty looks or not. But Zayn must have been eager to have me because he pulled me inside and slammed the door behind me.